We'll give Texas race track owners credit for trying an innovative way to boost gaming revenues. But we'll give more credit to the chairman of the House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations, who says the move must be OKd by the Legislature.

At issue is a new form of betting called historical racing. It involves devices that look like slot machines and allow bettors to wager on videos of past dog and horse races. But all identifying information has been removed from the images, so gamblers can't tell what races they're betting on.

Race track owners want the Texas Racing Commission to OK the machines as just another form of legal betting. But state Rep. Dan Flynn says the videos are an expansion of gambling and thus require a two-thirds vote from legislators and approval from voters.

He's right. When in doubt, decisions like this should be made by the Legislature, not a lesser authority.